Tag: Ladybirds

2023 ODI World Cup Latest

A look at recent developments in the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup, including two spectacular upsets – Afghanistan beating England and The Netherlands downing South Africa. Also two photo galleries.

There have been many developments in the tournament since my last blog post. This post looks at these developments.

AFGHANISTAN BEAT ENGLAND

In Sunday’s post I was anticipating a historic win for Afghanistan over England. That win duly materialised, with the final margin being 69 runs in Afghanistan’s favour – 284 vs 215. Afghanistan thoroughly deserved their win, and I was delighted that the Player of the Match award went to Mujeeb Ur Rahman for a very rapid 28 which gave the Afghanistan total a late boost and three good wickets, rather than Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 80 securing him the award which is what I had feared. This was obviously a great occasion for Afghanistan, but it was also a great occasion for the tournament as a whole – going into this match there had not been an upset of any sort, and this was a seismic one.

PHOTO GALLERY ONE

Having paid tribute to Afghanistan I break the post up a bit with this…

SRI LANKA V AUSTRALIA

Both of these teams had started with back to back losses, which meant that one of them would end the game firmly ensconced in the last chance saloon, almost certainly needing to win all six of their remaining games to qualify, while the other would still be in considerable jeopardy but would have some leeway. In the event Sri Lanka were never in the hunt, and Australia recorded a very comfortable win.

A SECOND UPSET

I was at work yesterday, so missed most of the match between The Netherlands and South Africa. The match was reduced by rain to 43 overs a side, and by the time I got back the Netherlands had amassed 245 from their allocation and had South Africa in considerable trouble at 133-6, needing 113 from 13 overs. The one hope for South Africa was that David ‘Killer’ Miller was still there. When he was out with the score at 147 the only remaining question was what the margin would be when the Dutch completed a victory that would be an even more king sized upset than Afghanistan’s over England. In the event, while never making anything approaching a serious assault on the target the South African tail provided stern resistance, with Keshav Maharaj leading a charmed life to score the luckiest 40 anyone could ever witness, and the final margin was 38 runs, which decidedly flattered the proteas. There was an added piquancy for a number of members of the Dutch XI – they had been born in South Africa and moved to their ancestral homeland after not making the grade in the land of their birth. They would have been even more overjoyed than their team mates to have bloodied South Africa’s nose in this manner.

AFGHANISTAN v NEW ZEALAND SO FAR

Afghanistan are back in action today, against New Zealand. In spite of the fact that their great win over England had come by means of batting first, posting a total and defending it they made a very questionable decision to field first when they won the toss today, possibly allowing worries over evening dew to influence the decision. They didn’t bowl all that badly, but their fielding would have shamed the Rain Men – five catches went down, none of them hugely difficult and at least two downright easy. New Zealand ended their 50 overs with 288-6 from their 50 overs, which was a lot more than they should have got. Afghanistan lost both openers cheaply, and nothing else that has happened in the opening ten overs of their innings, which have just ended (with three straight maidens) with their score 28-2, needing 261 off the last 40 at 6.525 per over. Rahmat Shah has just scored his first runs, a two and a one, from his ninth and tenth balls, while Hashmatullah Shahidi is on 1 off 17 balls.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

India v Pakistan

A look at today’s fixture in the ODI Cricket World Cup – a small matter of India v Pakistan. Also a photo gallery – though the temperature is more October like today than it has been for the previous 12 days of the month the sun has been out, making walking pleasant.

Today’s match in the ODI Cricket World Cup is the biggest clash of the group stage – bitter rivals India and Pakistan are in opposition. These two sides rarely meet outside tournaments because of the strained relations between the two countries. This post looks at the match that is currently in progress.

PAKISTAN MAKE A GOOD START…

India won the toss and put Pakistan in to bat. Pakistan looked to be going very well for much of their innings. Both openers got going but then got out (Abdullah Shafique for 20, Imam-ul-Haq for 38). However Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan looked like setting Pakistan up for a very respectable total, pushing the score up to 155-2.

…THEN COLLAPSE

The Pakistan innings unravelled spectacularly from this point – Babar Azam was out for exactly 50, Saud Shakeel failed outright (these two falling in the space of four balls from Kuldeep Yadav, the left arm wrist spinner), then Rohit Sharma cashed in on this double strike by calling Jasprit Bumrah back into the attack at the other end. Bumrah clean bowled Rizwan for 49 and Pakistan were five down. Both the two new batters failed cheaply, one to Jadeja and one to Bumrah (Yadav had completed his 10 overs, with superb figures of 2-35), and Pakistan were suddenly 171-7. The eighth wicket pair cobbled together a stand of 16, at which point Score Predictor had Pakistan somehow mustering a final total of 237, which looked very optimistic indeed. It soon looked like a fantasy land prediction, as both batters were out with the score on 187, and with 9.5 overs to go Pakistan had numbers 10 and 11, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf batting together. They advanced the score by four runs before Rauf was pinned LBW. From 155-2 at high water mark Pakistan had surrendered their last eight wickets for just 36 runs. While the failure of the middle and lower order batters was shocking the real problems had actually happened earlier – three of the top four had topped 30, but none went on to play the sort of major innings around which a respectable total can be built. Rizwan took 69 balls to accrue his 49 runs, a rate of progress that can only be justified if you do actually bat all the way to the end of the innings AND you considerably increase your rate of scoring in the late part of the innings.

INDIA IN TOTAL CONTROL

Pakistan’s only hope after posting such a poor score themselves was to start fast with the ball, with early wickets being imperative. In the event it was India who got away to a flier, and their tempo has never slackened. Rohit Sharma followed his astute captaincy with a batting masterclass that had commentators speculating on him reaching a century before the end. That was not to be, as he was caught by Iftikhar Ahmed off Shaheen Shah Afridi for a superb 86, but as I type these words India are 161-3 after 23 overs, needing a mere 31 with 27 possible overs remaining.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today’s photo gallery is not as large as some of mine, but I think it is good one…

While I have been preparing this for publication India have moved on to 168-3 after 26 overs – 24 needed off a possible 24 overs.

ODI World Cup Thursday and Friday

A look at recent developments in the ODI cricket world cup, and a very large photo gallery.

In this post I will look briefly at events yesterday, which all took place while I was at work and in today’s match between New Zealand and Bangladesh.

AUSTRALIA IN TROUBLE

Yesterday in the world cup Australia took on South Africa. I did not catch any of the match as Australia were so inept that it finished before I was home from work, with the proteas victorious by a thumping 124 runs. At the moment, with New Zealand and Bangladesh in action today every team has played two group matches, and Australia lie second from bottom having lost both of their matches and having a ghastly net run rate of -1.846. This effectively means that they need to win six of their last seven group matches to qualify, as their poor net run rate means that five wins and four losses will not be good enough for them to qualify. Four teams have won two out of two, South Africa, New Zealand, India and Pakistan and two others, England and Bangladesh have won one and lost one, while the other four, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Australia and Afghanistan have lost both their matches.

BANGLADESH v NEW ZEALAND

A West Norfolk Autism Group committee meeting meant that I missed the whole Bangladesh innings. They managed 246 from their 50 over, which would not normally be expected to be a winning total. However Bangladesh are faring quite well in the field – New Zealand are 101-2 in the 22nd over. Bangladesh used to be over reliant on spin, but they have finally got some decent pace bowlers – in this match they have three specialists in that department, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed, the last named being the quickest of the trio. Both the spinners in the XI, Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz are genuine all rounders.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

While I have been preparing this for publication New Zealand have advanced to 123-2 after 25 overs, meaning that they are precisely halfway to the target after precisely half of their overs.

India Poised For Big Win Over Afghanistan

A look at recent developments in the 2023 ODI Cricket world cup, with emphasis on today’s match, between Afghanistan and India. Also a large photo gallery – even when grey as it is today this October has been much warmer than is normal for an English October.

Yesterday was a work day, so I did not get to follow much of the action in the two cricket world cup matches that took place – I got some but not all of England’s innings against Bangladesh and the last few overs of Pakistan v Sri Lanka, with the latter completing the largest successful run chase in World Cup history with just under two overs and six wickets to spare. Today India are playing Afghanistan and the rest of the post is about that match.

THE AFGHANISTAN INNINGS

Afghanistan won the toss and have chosen to bat, and in spite of the likely outcome of this match I think they made the correct decision. I also reckon that their score of 272-8 from their 50 overs to be an important one, not because it was enough on a pitch as good for batting as this one, but because it was an undeniably respectable total against top tier opposition and crucially it was made in spite of the fact that both of Afghanistan’s biggest batting guns, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, failed to fire. The major contributions came from Hashmatullah Shahidi (80) and Azmatullah Omarzai (62), who shared a century stand together for the fourth wicket. Most of the Indian bowlers did respectably, with the exception of Mohammad Siraj who bowled seven overs for 55 runs. Jasprit Bumrah was the most impressive by a long way, finishing with 4-39 on a track offering no bowler the slightest hint of assistance.

INDIA’S REPLY

The big story of India’s innings so far has been Rohit Sharma. The Indian opener has been rewriting the record books – most sixes in international cricket across formats, overhauling Chris Gayle’s 553, most runs out of a team’s first 100 in a world cup match – 76, fastest world cup century by an Indian. He has been dismissed, for 131 off 84 balls, bowled by Rashid Khan, but the outcome of the match is as good as settled – India are 231-2 in the 29th over, needing just 42 more to win. India will be giving an already good net run rate a boost.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a splendid photo gallery to share with you…

While I have been prepping this post for publication India have advanced to 255-2 from 33 overs, needing a mere 18 more to complete their victory.

New Zealand Poised For A Second Big Win Of The Tournament

This post looks in the main at developments in today’s ODI Cricket World Cup match between The Netherlands and New Zealand. However just to tie up the loose ends of yesterday’s post, my unequivocal and unambiguous statement that due to the small size of the total they were chasing India were still favourites to win even after losing three very early wickets was borne out by the final stages of the match. Kohli and Rahul took India to the brink of victory before Kohli was caught for a fine 85. Hardik Pandya struck a six, which roused Rahul to new levels of aggression, and it was ultimately India’s batter-keeper who made the winning hit, a six over cover which took him to 97*. The margin was six wickets and 8.4 overs to spare, which gives India a healthy net run rate of 0.883 (this could be crucial later on, as if multiple teams finish the round robin stage on the same points tally net RR will be used as the tie-splitter. My reckoning based on the fact that four of ten teams qualify for the semi-final stage is that teams with a win-loss ratio of 6-3 or better will likely qualify without recourse to net RR and that it will be the teams with five wins and four defeats who get separated by net run rate. Thus my reckoning is that after yesterday Australia with their net RR having taking a big early hit need to win six of their remaining eight matches, while four more wins would probably see India qualify on net RR.

THE NETHERLANDS V NEW ZEALAND

I missed the early stages of this match due to an appointment with the hygienist at my dental practice. The Netherlands won the toss and foolishly went with their fears about dew making the ball difficult to grip and gave New Zealand the opportunity to make use of the best batting conditions of the match. For much of the New Zealand innings a 350+ total looked on, but a combination of tight Dutch bowling and a couple of quick wickets around the 40 over mark put that kind of total out of reach, and at one stage a total of under 300 seemed possible. Overs 48 and 49, which went for 17 and 12 respectively got New Zealand to 300. With one ball left in the innings New Zealand were on 309-7. Then Bas de Leede, who had bowled very well, and had figures of 1-51 had a horror finish that spoiled his fine spell: first he bowled a no-ball which was smashed for six, then the resultant free hit produced six more and the last ball of the innings had thus yielded 13 (12 for the two sixes, one for the no-ball). New Zealand had thus ended on 322-7.

The Netherlands have not made a good start to the reply. Currently they stand at 76-3 after 19 overs, meaning that required run rate is pushing eight an over. Unless something remarkable happens in the remaining 31 overs of this match New Zealand, who started this tournament by pummelling England in the opening fixture, will be extremely strongly placed, with two wins out of two and a very good net RR.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a bumper gallery to share with you…

The sun heading for the horizon last night as I walked along the Gaywood River Path
Red on black meets black on red.

Match 5 of The 2023 ODI World Cup

At 9:30AM UK time the biggest match of the 2023 World Cup so far, hosts India against perennial high achievers Australia, got underway. This post tells the story of the match so far.

A POOR PERFORMANCE BY AUSTRALIA WITH THE BAT

Mitchell Marsh was out cheaply. A partnership between Smith and Warner seemed to be putting Australia on the road to recovery, but then Warner was out. Smith and Labuschagne took the score to 110, but Australia were scoring slowly. Smith’s dismissal at that score put a different complexion on matters. Not much later Labuschagne was caught behind, and in spite of the fact that his innings had been anything but a good one, he selfishly sent it upstairs, where it was duly confirmed as out, putting him deep in debit – a slow innings and then he compounded it by burning a review. A collapse set in, and Australia found themselves 140-7. The tail wagged somewhat, but Australia were all out for 199 after 49.3 overs. This confirmed a prediction that I had made tentatively at the end of the 34th over (Australia 134-5) and firmly at the end of the 36th (Australia 140-6) that they would not get to 200. The three spinners, Ashwin, Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav had taken 6-104 between them from their full 30 overs. Not a single Australian had any cause to be proud of the way they had batted, and at least one of their major batters, Labuschagne, should have been hanging his head in shame.

EARLY WICKETS FOR AUSTRALIA

I went out for a walk during the break between innings and slightly overran, missing the start of the Indian reply. Australia needed early wickets to have any chance, and they got them with Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer (numbers 1,2 and 4 in this Indian order) all going for ducks, at which point the score was 2-3. By the time I got back runs and wickets were the right way round for India, with the score reading 4-3. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are carrying out a rescue operation, and as I type this the score is 20-3 after seven overs. I still think that this match is India’s to lose – 200 is not a large total to have to get, and in addition to the pair currently batting Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin can all bat. I am glad to see a pitch on which bowlers are genuinely in the game.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off (from walks yesterday afternoon and evening and this morning)…

While I have been preparing this for publication India have moved on to 27-3.

All Time XIs: ODI From Before the ODI Era

The Men’s ODI World Cup is now underway (I did not get to catch any of the opener between England and New Zealand yesterday – between 9:30AM when I set out on an extended walk to the bus stop to get the bus to Fakenham before work and 8:25PM when I got home from an evening talk at The Globe Hotel in central King’s Lynn I was at home for less than 20 minutes, in between the two events, though the evidence is pretty conclusive that England either batted badly, bowled badly, or weren’t good enough in either department), with The Netherlands giving a decent account of themselves against Pakistan today. I am marking the start of the tournament with an ODI XI made up exclusively of players who played before ODIs were a thing (I have slightly cheated with one player, who made a duck in his only ODI appearance).

A FURTHER OUTLINE OF THE BRIEF

ODIs are different from T20Is and other very short form games. While the emphasis is still on fast scoring it is also necessary to be able score genuinely big runs to do well in ODIs, whereas a collection of lightning fast 20s, 30s and 40s will do very nicely in T20. Thus, at least at the top of the order one cannot simply select super fast scorers with no regard for the size of their scores.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Bert Sutcliffe (New Zealand, left handed opening batter). The possessor of the two highest FC innings ever played in New Zealand (385 and 355), and noted for the speed of his scoring – that 385 came in a total of 500 all out, and the opponents, Canterbury, managed only 382 off the bat in their two innings combined. One account I have read of that innings said that he “dominated the Canterbury bowlers and dominated his partners”.
  2. Victor Trumper (Australia, right handed opening batter). At Old Trafford in 1902, knowing that Bill Lockwood would be dangerous once the pitch and the run up area had dried sufficiently for him to be risked, Trumper scored a hundred before lunch on the opening day, by which time Australia were 173-1. Lockwood was indeed difficult after lunch, and even with Joe Darling smashing a rapid half century by way of a counter Australia only managed 299. They won the match by three runs, after England had reached 92-3 in pursuit of 124 in the final innings and then collapsed, and with that victory secured retention of The Ashes.
  3. Charles Macartney (Australia, right handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner). Against Nottinghamshire in 1921 he scored 345 in less than four hours at the crease, still the highest score by a member of an Australian touring party in England. Five years later at Headingley, after Warren Bardsley fell to the first ball of the match, he emulated Trumper’s 1902 feat of having a century on the board by lunch on the first day of a test match. His bowling feats included a ten-wicket match haul in a test match.
  4. Graeme Pollock (South Africa, left handed batter). One of the greatest batters ever to play the game, and known for seriously rapid scoring.
  5. Garry Sobers (Nottinghamshire, West Indies, left handed batter, left arm bowler of every type known to cricket). The most complete player ever to player to play the game.
  6. +Les Ames (Kent, England, right handed batter, wicket keeper). Over 1,100 FC dismissals, including an all time record 418 stumpings, and over 100 FC hundreds, 75 of which were scored while in possession of the gauntlets (at the start of his career he had to wait for John Hubble to retire before getting the keeping gig, and lumbago in the later stages of his career meant that he had to yield the gloves to a young Godfrey Evans. He twice won the Lawrence trophy for the fastest FC century and once when Kent were set 219 to win in 90 minutes Frank Woolley was asked if they could do it and replied “yes, if Les fires”. Les did fire on that occasion, and with Woolley himself also contributing handsomely Kent achieved their outlandish chase.
  7. *Gilbert Jessop (Gloucestershire, England, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain). The holder of the record for the fastest test century ever scored for England, a record he has held since 1902 (it has been challenged a couple of times recently, but stands for the moment). In FC cricket he scored the second and third fastest hundreds ever made against serious bowling (i.e not bowlers who were giving runs away in an effort to induce a declaration), in 40 and 42 minutes respectively. The latter became the fastest ever FC 150 (63 minutes) as well, and ended in a score of 191 in 90 minutes. He was also a useful fast bowler, habitually taking the new ball for his county, and a gun fielder.
  8. Alan Davidson (Australia, left arm fast bowler, occasional left arm orthodox spin bowler, left handed batter). 186 test wickets at 20.53, a test match HS of 80 (in test cricket’s first ever tie – his four contributions being 5-135, 44, 6-87, 80). He was also a brilliant fielder, nicknamed ‘the claw’ on account of his ability to hold barely believable catches.
  9. Billy Bates (Yorkshire, England, off spinner, right handed batter). A superb all rounder, the first ever to score a 50 and take a 10 wicket haul in the same test match. He was also extremely economical as a bowler, on one occasion bowling a spell of 17 (four ball) overs from which just eight runs accrued.
  10. Alfred Shaw (Nottinghamshire, Sussex, England, right arm medium, right arm slow bowler, right handed batter). Possibly the most economical bowler ever to play the game – he bowled more FC overs than he conceded runs. He took just over 2,000 FC wickets at 12 a piece, including 186 at 8.54 in his best season.
  11. Sydney Barnes (Warwickshire, Lancashire, England, right arm fast medoiujm bowler, right handed batter). 189 wickets in just 27 test matches at 16.43. Although he fared a lot better against South Africa, who were often fairly hapless with the bat than he did against Australia, his record against the latter was still mighty fine – 106 wickets in 20 appearances, 77 of those wickets in 13 matches down under. Although his position at number 11 is justified he did once produce a crucial 38* in a test match, helping the last wickets to score the 73 needed for England to win.

This side has massive batting depth – even Barnes at number 11 was far from being a bunny, while there are seven top line batters, and two bowling all rounders at eight and nine. The bowling, with Barnes, Davidson, Shaw, Bates, Jessop, Macartney and Sobers is similarly replete with both depth and variety.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

There are far too many of these for a full listing, and many would fully justify places in this XI. I particularly regretted not being able to accommodate leg spinning all rounder Percy Fender. I look forward to seeing reader suggestions.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The next few pictures were taken inside The Globe Hotel.

The 2023 Ryder Cup So Far

The Ryder Cup is a golf tournament played every two years between teams representing Europe and the USA (used to be GB & Ireland v USA). It features three match play formats: Foursomes, where the players hit alternate shots, fourballs, where each player plays their own ball and the hole is won the best score out of the four players, and singles, which is head to head between two players. This latter is the only format in which every player is guaranteed to play barring injuries. The first two days each see four foursomes matches in the morning and four fourball matches in the afternoon, while day three features the 12 singles matches.

YESTERDAY

I was too busy following the end of the County Championship cricket season to catch any of yesterday’s action, but Europe ended up with a commanding 6.5 – 1.5 lead (a win scores one point, and a half half a point).

THIS MORNING

Europe continued to dominate. Match two saw Hovland and Aberg for Europe set a new all time competition record when they hammered Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka 9 and 7 (nine holes up with only seven left to play), the biggest margin of victory in the history of the tournament (beating the 8 and 7 by which Paul Broadhurst once lost a singles match). Koepka could do nothing right, and by the end Scheffler, dragged down by his partner’s bad play and worse attitude, was also playing some very shoddy golf. McIlroy and Fleetwood in match one and Rahm and Hatton in match four each recorded 2&1 victories for Europe. Max Homa and Brian Harman saved some face for the USA by winning their match 4&2, but Europe were still 9.5 – 2.5 ahead.

THIS AFTERNOON SO FAR

The USA have finally found some form this afternoon. Hovland and Aberg, heroes of the morning for Europe, are on the brink of a heavy defeat at the hands of Burns and Morikawa, while Homa and Harman are poised to repeat their win of this morning. Match three is tied at the half way mark, and Europe are ahead in match four. If the USA can win this session 3.5 – 0.5 or 4-0 they will be in a position from which a comeback in the singles is not unprecedented (both USA and Europe have won from 6-10 down in the past, and USA as holders only need 14 points to retain the trophy, whereas Europe need 14.5 to win it). Anything less than a win by one of those two huge margins will leave USA needing a record breaking comeback in the singles.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

There was a full moon and a clear night sky last night – this picture and the four following it are captures thereof.

Leicestershire Recover From Awful Start

A look at the first innings of the One Day Cup final and a large photo gallery.

Today is the final of the One Day Cup. The match is happening at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, and the two teams to reach the final are Hampshire and Leicestershire. This post looks at developments in the first 50 overs.

A TERRIBLE START

Leicestershire won the toss and chose to bat first. They were soon reeling at 19-4 (I missed the start, due to an event at King’s Lynn library). Although they mounted a bit of a fightback, the dismissal of Lewis Hill for 42 made it 89-6, and Leicestershire’s cause still looked hopeless…

THE FIGHTBACK

…at this hopeless looking juncture Harry Swindells joined Sam Evans. While Evans fought hard and eventually recorded 60 (84), it was Swindells who really turned the tide. He completed a century at better than run a ball, and with Tom Scriven offering support after the dismissal of Evans, he eventually finished on 117* (96), and had guided has side from the ruins of 89-6 to a defensible 267-7. The Hampshire reply is just getting under way as I type, and it is not the formality they would at one stage have been expecting.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

All Time XIs – Colours

An all time XI, an auction announcement and a large photo gallery.

I cannot claim that the XI that forms the body of this post is an absolutely stellar one, but I have a specific reason for this piece of whimsy which I will explain later in the post.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Jack Brown (Yorkshire, England, right handed opening batter). A very successful opening batter for his county, and played two legendary innings in games of higher standard than county – a match and series winning 140 in the last match of the 1894-5 Ashes series and a spectacular 163 which helped the Players to chase down 501 against the Gentlemen at Lord’s in 1900.
  2. Bill Brown (Australia, right handed opening batter). A successful opening batter after the retirements of two other Bills, Ponsford and Woodfull and before the rise of Barnes and Morris pushed him out of the side.
  3. George Brown (Hampshire, England, right handed batter, ). A tough competitor, especially noted for his play against fast bowling.
  4. +Ben Brown (Sussex, Hampshire, right handed batter, wicket keeper). A little high in the order, but a very fine batter and keeper at county level.
  5. Cameron Green (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler). A splendid all rounder.
  6. *Freddie Brown (Surrey, Northamptonshire, England, right handed batter, leg spinner, right arm medium pacer, captain). He was the youngest member of the 1932-3 Ashes tour party, and didn’t play much on that trip. His next visit to Australia came 18 years later as captain (Norman Yardley and George Mann were both unavailable for business reasons, and England weren’t quite ready for a professional captain, so Brown who had done well as skipper of Northamptonshire ended with the job, and had a respectable series as player and even in a well beaten side was acknowledged to have done a good job as captain. In first class cricket he scored over 13,000 runs and took over 1,200 wickets.
  7. Gordon White (South Africa, right handed batter, leg spinner). His test stats look fairly ordinary, but he was an important part of the SA teams of his day, and his FC averages were the right way around – 27.70 with bat, 20.05 with ball.
  8. Dougie Brown (Warwickshire, Scotland, right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). A good county all rounder, his presence at number eight gives the batting depth. His FC averages, like those of Gordon White are the right way round – 30 with the bat and 28 with the ball in his case. I have placed him below the South African because batting was easier in the 1990s than it had been nine decades earlier, which more than makes up for him having a higher batting average.
  9. Jack ‘Farmer’ White (left arm orthodox spin bowler, right handed batter). One of Somerset’s finest cricketers, and his accuracy and stamina were crucial to England’s comprehensive triumph in the 1928-9 Ashes. At Adelaide in that series he toiled through 124 overs across the two Aussie innings and emerged with 13-256 in the match.
  10. David ‘Butch’ White (Hampshire, England, right arm fast bowler, left handed tail end bat). The reason for this XI making its appearance. Part of a new ball pairing with Derek Shackleton which was instrumental in the winning of Hampshire’s first ever County Championship. Unplayable on his day, he took over 1,100 FC wickets at 23 a piece, though he gained only two England caps.
  11. George Brown (Sussex, Hampshire, fast bowler, right handed tail end batter). He played in the 1820s, and his speed was the stuff of legends – one story which clearly grew in the telling was of a dog walker walking close to the boundary behind the stumps when one of Brown’s rockets beat everyone including the keeper and was racing directly towards the dog, the dog walker attempted to stop the ball with their coat and the ball burst straight through the coat and killed the dog.

This XI is undoubtedly a little light on batting, though the number of all rounders there, highlighted by Dougie Brown being at number eight, is somewhat of a mitigating factor, and the bowling attack is superb. Butch White and George Brown the bowler opening, with Dougie Brown third seamer, Cameron Green fourth seamer, and Farmer White, Gordon White and Freddie Brown spin options (I can’t think of situation in which Freddie’s seam or George Brown the batter’s occasional quick stuff could be required by this team) make this team a serious bowling force.

A SPORTING MEMORABILIA AUCTION COMING UP

On September the 26th James and Sons will be having an auction of various items of sporting memorabilia, including some very old football programmes and a range of items of cricketana. The latter includes three balls with which Butch White performed great bowling feats and which have silver plaques affixed to them detailing the feats in question. Catalogues can be viewed here or here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Now for my usual sign off…